By Kelsang Rinchen,
Phayul Reporter
Dharamsala, June 9- A huge crowd gathered yesterday for the final football match between Pokhara and Dharamsala. Mr. Thupten Lungrik, minister for Education and Religion and Culture was the Chief Guest. Many other important people were also present to watch the final of the most coveted football tournament of the Tibetan community.
Dharamsala earlier lost 3-1 to Pokhara in the league. But they had a good come back after their 2-1 win over Doon Valley, the team which saw its entry into the final slip away to Dharamsala due to the poor performance of their goalkeeper, who was surprisingly a part of the Tibetan national team which made two trips to Europe.
Pokhara also were close to loosing their Semi Final match to Delhi but a last minute equalizer from their ponytailed striker saved them from a thrashing defeat by Delhi.
Tenzin Choegyal, better known as Abdullah, of Delhi had the crowd stunned when he managed to slip the ball past Pokhara’s goalkeeper twice. Delhites were almost through to the final with a goal’s lead but a last minute volley into the right corner of the goal by Pokhara’s forward gave a sigh of relief to the Pokhara bench.
The final between Dhasa and Pokhara was a surprise for football enthusiasts who were foreseeing Doon Valley play against Pokhara but it was the home team which got into the finals.
Dhasa were in good form but the spirit of Pokhara players was something that Dhasa failed to tackle.
Dhasa seemed to be under enormous pressure right from the start. For a moment, it seemed the game was being played in Pokhara for majority of the crowd was cheering up for Pokhara.
Dhasa has one chance to convert into goal a cross from the right corner but Karma of Dhasa tipped the ball over the bar. That could have changed their fate. A beautiful shot past Dhasa defenders was took strong for the Dhasa goalkeeper who had a touch on the ball but failed to stop it from getting into the net.
Pokhara had many chances to double the lead but they failed. Dhasa too had good chances but Pokhara goalkeeper did not let luck favour Dhasa.
Dhasa did their best to level the score. And as if to give another big blow to Dhasa, Pokhara’s right wing took the ball past Tenzin Dhargyal of Dhasa who did not tackle the opponent well and left enough space for the Pokhara right wing to curl the ball into the upper left corner of the post. For the first time, TCV football ground saw football hooliganism in form of throwing of empty water bottles on the field. But whether it was in support of the second goal or in dismay is not clear. Even the world’s best goalkeeper would not have been able to block that goal which doubled the score just before the Referee blew the final whistle to end the match. That whistle was the moment Pokhara players and its supporters were waiting for. The field filled with fans, mostly monks, and empty bottles.
Kelsang Rinchen can be contacted at kalsangr@yahoo.com.
